Approach to Prayer Wednesday
In the beginning of March, we discussed form prayers. Today, we discuss the opposite of form prayers, which is spontaneous prayer. There are many schools of thought associated with the benefits of one form of prayer versus the other. Today, I will not just ask you to reflect upon your current prayer habits. I will be bold and issue a directive instead: Practice spontaneous prayer!
Creative Idea Gal’s Thoughts
Every religion has different perspectives on what it classifies as spontaneous prayer. I tend to fall on the loose end of the spectrum, defining this form of prayer liberally to mean “any type of prayer that is said in the spur of the moment.” In my life, a spur of the moment changes on a daily basis, just like my moods, interests, and inspirations. Every day I recite different spontaneous prayer as I call upon the circumstances of the moment to inspire me.
For example, just two days ago, I learned that a little boy I know has a tumor in his brain. Today, I was sick and prayed fervently to get through the day. Tomorrow, I hope to get good news on my husband’s job prospecting. These are all different circumstances that happened at different times. I prayed for each of these things at the moment I found out about them. I like to call these “spontaneous prayers” because none of my thoughts was preconceived or predetermined by anything else. If I felt it in my heart, I said it.
Helpful Resources
For today’s prompt, I offer:
An explanation of the difference between the Jewish concepts of keva (prayers from the prayer book) and kavanah (spontaneous prayers from the heart).
A Christian perspective on spontaneous prayer.
Writing Prompt 035
- Step 1: Find a definition of spontaneous prayer that you are comfortable with.
- Step 2: Practice spontaneous prayer through writing.
- Step 3: Let yourself go in deep thought. What do you want to do within your prayer – ask for something, give thanks, worship, or other? Compose your answer as a spontaneous prayer. Write! Add definitions and personal perspectives. Suggestion: create your writing in the form of an opinion, essay, blog post, or social media blurb (status update, post, tweet).
- Bonus Step: If you own a blog and wish to share a link to the blog post that contains your response to today’s writing prompt, we welcome your permalink and encourage you to post it as a comment below!
Note: You get major brownie points for fleshing out your writing into rich subparts or adding historical perspectives to your writing.
Please be sure to leave comments about this writing prompt. We want to hear from you!
About the Author
Amanda M. Socci, J.D., is a freelance writer with 14 years of experience writing professionally. Socci currently cuts her blogging chops on her personal portfolio blog, the Creative Idea Gal blog, and on an online news site, Mount Vernon Patch. Inspired by Nina Amir’s Write Nonfiction in November writing challenge, she created a unique 10-month training program for Writenonfictionnow.com and Writenonfictioninnovember.com blog visitors.
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